Aerobic Fitness Status of Children in Rural America and Russia

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the aerobic fitness status of a sample of rural American and Russian children, and to examine these findings in light of their out of school physical activity participation.

Methods

Four hundred and fifteen ten and eleven year old children from both countries completed the 15 meter Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) fitness test, and following the test, the highest scoring children were interviewed with regard their out-of-school participation in physical activity. A 2 (country) x 2 (gender) x 2 (age) mixed analysis of variance was used to evaluate differences in the number of laps achieved by the listed conditions. In addition, the percentage of students who failed to reach, reached, or exceeded the healthy-fitness zone was also determined. A chi-square test of independence was calculated to determine if a relationship existed between country and meeting the healthy fitness standards as designated by FITNESSGRAM, dichotomised as either Yes or No.

Analysis/Results

Key findings included that the Russian students achieved significantly more laps (M = 70.39, SD = 29.12) than American students, (M = 51.19, SD = 29.34), and that males scored higher than females. The association between country and healthy zone status was significant, χ2 (1, n = 415) = 39.30, p < .001, C = .308. Overall, 97.4% of the Russian students achieved their respective age-and gender-related cut-offs, while 78.7% of the Americans reached the relevant healthy standard. When controlling for age and gender, logistical regression predicts that the Russian children were 9.4 times more likely to surpass the healthy standard.

After examining the profiles of the students three apparent themes begin to emerge: Russian students walk to and from school; the students who achieve a superior fitness level participate in after school physical activity; after school activities for the American students appear to be more recreationally orientated than the Russian students. In particular, all of the Russian students spent significant time outdoors after school in active play. For boys, soccer was the most popular activity, but many, including girls, played chasing and tag games. There was no mention by any of the Russian children of play on computers or watching television.

Conclusions

Although a causal relationship between physical activity and physical fitness was not empirically established, for the children in this study it appears that participating in after school activity may have contributed to achieving a superior fitness status.